Do You Want Me Dead?
by BellaLacey
Summary: Camp Half-Blood has a whole new generation of demigods, and Brooke D'White and her brother, Brady, are the newest campers there.


The cold October wind whipped BrookLynn D'White's ponytail straight out of her hair, the tie she used to keep it back blowing along with the gale. The winds were never this horrible before, but it seemed like every day the Summer came closer the worse the weather got. A tornado had even touched down just a few hundred miles from the small town Brooke and her two brothers, Brendon and Brady currently lived. Honestly, the weather in Brooke's mind had about as much importance as say, a paperclip. She had other things to be worried about besides how many miles per hour the wind was blowing, as long as she got home.

Home, that was a funny word. Brooke had thought about it various times, what did she really consider "home"? Was it Brendon's pickup truck with the horrible paint job that she'd spent most of her life in? Was it the beat up apartment buildings that smelled like lemon cleaner, that she and her brothers would move out of every few months? No, not really. But if she was with her brothers, her only family, she guessed she could settle with calling that home.

Brendon had a habit of always being fired from whatever job he could get, no matter how simple or how challenging it was. And once fired from one place, he always made them pack up their run-down apartment and move once again. Because of this constant movement, they never really went to school, only a few months at a time then eventually dropped out all together to be home schooled by Brendon. Not that Brooke complained or anything, the only thing she liked about school was one class and one class only, art.

She turned her head to the side, trying to block the winds from pushing her black bangs into her eyes, smiling triumphantly as the small, brick apartment building she lived in came into view. She grasped onto the plastic shopping bag even harder, trying not to spill the apple juice she braved the icy cold weather to get. Considering it was her birthday, you'd think Brendon would go out to get it for her, but both of her brothers were "too busy" playing videogames. The fuckers.

Brooke swung the door open, stepping in and kicking off her boots, slamming the door behind her, "I'm home." she called out, her monotone voice being cut off by the sounds of Mortal Kombat blaring from the living room. She grinded her teeth together, thinking that if they were playing on her file, they were dead.

"Brookie! Home already? We've only got through ten battles!" Brendon's loud voice could be heard over bombs going off, making the noises from the television seem dull in comparison. For someone in his thirties he was possibly the one in the house with the least amount of maturity. You think taking in two twin toddlers at only age 20 with stubborn personalities would make a person more mature, not less, but Brooke did have to give him props, he did give her her first videogame afterall.

Brady turned around, sending her his signature devilish smirk, his pearly white teeth peaking out from under his lips. Besides their genders, the two were almost identical, Brady had Brooke's exact shade of emerald green eyes, both had long, slightly messy black hair, pale skin, and both of them had a habit of narrowing their eyes at all times. Brady had a girlfriend a few years back, now a few dozen states away who said it made them look "frightening yet oddly intriguing." Brooke had no idea if she should swear her out or say thanks. Their biggest difference was probably that Brady was extremely tall, and slightly built, while Brooke was not only tiny size-wise, but had the height of a preschooler. Brendon looked sort of like them too, except his eyes were a lighter shade of green, and his hair was always smooth and shiny, and unlike the other two, he smiled every once in a while. "Yeah, thanks for all the help." She said as she tossed the apple juice on the small table they kept in the middle of the living room.

"Awh, Brookie don't be sour. If you keep your face like that for so long it'll stay that way you know." Brendon said, looking back at the small television and focusing on his game.

Brooke attempted to relax her face, even smile a bit, but it just turned back into her usual scowl. Frustrated, she plopped down on the floor next to her brothers, grabbing Brady's pepsi out of his hand and chugged it, earning herself a glare from him. "Can't get your own?" He chided, grabbing back the can and downing the rest.

"Can't suck it up?" Brooke said, her tone mocking. These sort of spats were typical for the two, who only really ever said "I love you" to each other after Brady would scare the monsters out of Brooke's closet when she couldn't sleep. No, not when they were children. Brooke really did still do that.

"Knock it off you two. It's your birthday, go chill until I'm done decorating."  
>Brooke looked around, not a spot in the house had a decoration on it, "You're working so hard, love what you've done with the place." Her sarcasm practically dripping off of her lips.<p>

Pausing the game, Brendon turned around to face her, pointing a slightly tan finger close to her nose, "You just wait and see, you won't even recognize this place by the time Brendon D'White is through with it." With a roll of her eyes, Brooke stood, hands on her hips and her eyes narrowed, as usual, "Whatever, I'm going to my room."

"What's wrong now, find a worm in your apple this morning? About time you noticed me putting them in there." Brady said, unpausing the game on Brendon and defeating his brother's character, which Brooke noticed to be Scorpian.

"Tch, fuck off." With a flick of her hair she left the room, walking into the small kitchen and stepped on a box they hadn't unpacked, even if they moved in three months ago. Reaching up she grabbed a small rope with her pinky, stretching a little more and pulling down the attic stairs and narrowly missing her head. She took one short look at her brothers, Brady now strumming a guitar on the couch and Brendon putting away the Xbox, then shook her head and went up into her room. She sat on her small bed, running her small hands over the silk green sheets and fell back on her bed. The last thing she saw before her eyes fluttered shut was a large, black shadow falling over the ceiling.

* * *

><p>"Make a wish, you two." Brendon said, snapping a picture when Brooke and Brady blew out the 16 candles in unison. They had done this every year on their birthday since they started living with their brother, sitting around a small coffee table, making a wish, then the three of them would proceeded to engulf a large cheesecake from the store. Brendon tried making them a cake one year, but as it turned out, none of them could cook without almost burning the house down.<p>

Brady dipped his finger into the whipped cream ontop and plopped a small bit on the tip of Brooke's nose, "Now try to lick it off," This was also a tradition, and for the second time that day Brooke smiled, even if it was a little one and moved her tongue up, licking off the cream and making her twin laugh, "You never could do that as a kid. Really, you couldn't do much as a kid, I was the awesome one."

"Yeah? So what happened to give you such a big ego?" Brady thought about that for a second, then cut himself a piece of cake and stuffed as much as he could in his mouth.

"It's like how great I am, it just comes naturally."

"I'm sure it does." She said as she grabbed a fork, shoving it into her brothers cake and stuffing some into her own mouth. Looking around, she noticed that Brendon really didn't do such a bad job with the decorations this year. Balloons were all over the ceiling and there was a tacky banner hung, slightly squish, over on the wall. It felt nice, made the little apartment somewhat homier than she expected. A little feeling of hope rose in the pit of her stomach, only to be squashed by the next things Brendon was going to say.

"Alright guys, listen up." The twins did as they were told, they knew he only used the words "listen up" when something important had to be said, "Time for presents."

Brooke sat up straighter, holding out her hands "Lay it on me." Brady mimicked her pose, two pairs of emerald eyes staring up at Brendon, who chuckled and holding up his pointer finger and walking into the kitchen, "Hold on you two."

The two impatient twins sat on the couch, Brady bouncing his leg up and down while waiting for his older brother to return into the room. Brooke leaned over closer, whispering into his ear, "What do you think he got us this time?" Brady paused, his leg motionless for about five seconds, then went straight back to bouncing, "Knowing Brendon, something dumb." Brooke considered this, then nodded, that sounded about right.

Brendon returned into the room, holding a small rectangular box that looked just about as long enough to be a necklace case, and another box, this time square, that was slightly bigger. "Dibs on the bigger one." Brady whispered back to her, earning himself a glare from Brooke's sharp eyes before looking up at Brendon, raising an eyebrow at the odd expression on his face. His eyes quickly darted between both of his younger siblings, his eyebrows pushed together slightly while a mix of what looked like anxiety and fear flashed across his face.

Noticing Brooke's stare, he grinned, tossing her the smaller box and Brady the larger one, "Alright, open." Brady unwrapped his box gleefully while Brooke gave Brendon another long stare, slowly taking the paper off of her own box, then opening it up, gasping slightly at the present inside. A small, thin, yet beautiful silver paintbrush sat on a fluffy white cushion, the black bristles untouched, it looked brand new yet thousands of years old at the same time. Using gentle hands, Brooke picked it up with her fingers, holding it closer to her face and squinting her eyes to see better. She noticed small writing was engraved all over the brush, little indents that must have taken ages, but the weirdest thing of all was that it was all written in Ancient Greek, yet she understood every word. "Brendon it's…" she looked up at him, speechless, then gave him one of her smiles, "Thanks." Brendon smiled back, no cocky grin that matched Brady's, not even a huge, all teeth smile like Brooke's own, but a warm smile that reminded her of her mothers, even if she hadn't seen it in years, "No problem sis."

Brady had already opened his gift, holding it up and inspecting it, "Man, this is pretty great. You did good this year, bro." He held up a gray beanie, the Greek symbol for omega in black on the front. What, did Brendon go shopping for them at some Ancient Greek store? Brooke rolled her eyes, he was always odd, so she didn't doubt it. "Good, don't put it on yet though. I have one more surprise for you guys."

The two perked up, both of them raising their eyebrows in unison, making Brendon smirk before saying the words they've all heard so often, "Pack up your stuff, we're moving."

Brooke thought she had became accustomed to hearing these words, but the shock it her once again, and before she could even open her mouth to speak, or even react, Brady cut her off.

"Leave? Seriously? We got here three months ago, not even!" He grinded his teeth together, clenching the hat in his hand, "How'd you get fired this time?"

Brendon waved his hand, clearly not hearing the sharp tone in Brady's voice "Nothing, I quit. Got offered an awesome new job in Long Island. I'm going to be working at Delphi Strawberry Service. Getting paid way more. It's not even that far from here!"

Brooke narrowed her eyes "Long Island, New York? That's three states over."

"Like I said, not that far," He clasped his hands together, "First day is tomorrow!"

As Brooke's mouth dropped open, Brady stood up, eyes narrowed into silts, and said "This is bullshit." before walking into the narrow hallway, opening the his room door and slamming it so hard a hinge almost fell off.

Brendon sighed, running his hand through his hair, "Yeah, thought he'd take it that way."

Crossing her arms Brooke stared up at him, no emotion showing on her face "How did you think I'd take it?"

Looking down at her, he shrugged, "The way you are now. No emotion, but you care inside" he poked her forehead, sitting on the coffee table, "Trust me, it'll be safer there."

"…safer?" She questioned, rubbing her forehead in the spot he poked her in.

"I mean…better, we'll have a great time there. This move is our last, promise." Brooke nodded, anticipation building in her chest. With all of their moves, not once did he ever tell them that it'd be their last time, she guessed it was because Brendon wasn't one for lying. Standing up she walked out of the living room, going down the hall to Brady's room and knocked once on the now very fragile white door.

"What is it."

"It's me."

A sigh was heard from the other side of the door. "Yeah, come in." She did, closing the door behind her and sitting on his bed, feeling the rough, worn black quilt Brendon had said their mother had knit for them and stared at her brother.

"He said this was our last move."

Brady scoffed, looking over at her and pushing up his glasses. That was another thing the two shared, horrible eyesight.

"Alright, but did he mean it?"

Brooke shrugged, "He's never said it before."

"Point taken. Why does it have to be New York though, ew."

A smirk formed on her lips, "Beats me, at least it's outside the city."

"Yeah, it's next to it."

"Suck it up and get packing," Brooke stood again, putting her hands on her hips, "You heard him, he has work in the morning."

It was pitch black by the time the three of them had finally gotten on the road. Much to Brady's dismay, Brendon insisted on driving himself, even though he had taught his two younger siblings a few weeks before their 16th. Brady sat in the passengers seat, feet kicked up on the dashboard and tracing patterns in the fogged up windows. The wind outside had picked up even more, pairing itself up with an uncalled for amount of rain. Brooke wasn't exactly worried about the weather, so instead she sat in the small, cramped backseat, quiet, and watched the raindrops have races on the window.

They had only been in the car a couple minutes when Brendon turned off the satellite radio, earning himself a look from Brady.

"What?" The older brother asked, "Saves energy, right? Why don't one of you play some music instead."

"Who cares about saving energy in a truck?" Brady said, his left eyebrow cocked up slightly.

"I do?"

"Too bad." And with that Brady reached over, turning the radio on again and cranking it up. Brendon sighed, reaching over once again and turning it off.

"I said no, Brady."

He narrowed his eyes "So you make us move again, now you won't even let us listen to music?"

"Shut up." Brooke's high voice cut in from the back, she sunk in the seat, crossing her arms, "You're both fucking annoying."

Brendon tightened his grip on the steering wheel, narrowing his eyes and staring straight ahead. The tension in the truck was getting more awkward with every word said, so much that even Brady kept quiet, taking his feet off the dashboard and resorting to staring out the window.

"I have some things to tell you two." Brendon spoke up again, not taking his eyes off the road. Nobody moved or said anything, simply waited for him to continue. "It's June now, and considering I'll be working all summer, I arranged for you two to go to…a summer camp."

There was a pause, so long that Brendon almost started second guessing if he ever said anything at all, until Brady's laugh cut in through the air, "You've got to be kidding me, what are we, four?" Brooke just stared, her mouth slightly ajar. She knew her brother wouldn't let them stay home by themselves all summer, but she expected a babysitter or something, not him sending them away.

"Listen up, you guys will love it there. There's hundreds of kids, kids…like you guys."

"What, we're going to a camp for kids with Dyslexia who moved around too often to make normal friends?" Brooke's words were sharp as she grinded her teeth together, contemplating crawling out over her brothers and getting out of the car, hailing a taxi and heading off to god knows where.

Brendon glared at her in the mirror above his head, then sighed, pulling over the truck to the side of the road and turning off the ignition. "We're almost there, you two can't wait until we get there?"

"Wait, you're ditching us now?"

"It's the middle of the night!"

Another sigh, "Yeah, clearly you two can't wait until we get there." He stared over at his younger siblings, first at Brady, then Brooke, "It's pretty crazy how much you two look like me even if we don't have the same fathers."

Once again, there was another long pause, except this time it was Brooke who held her breath, her eyes widening as she stuttered out, "W-What?"

Brendon half smiled, except it wasn't really a smile, because they were supposed to be filled with happiness, weren't they? All that Brooke could see in his was sadness, like he had to look at his own siblings, or rather, half siblings if what he was saying was true, with such sympathy that it hurt even him.

"What did I tell you guys about your parents?"

"Laura and Greg, two amazing artists. They were travelling together to an art show that mom had. You were babysitting us, and the plane crashed, right?" Brady said, fighting to keep his voice even.

Brendon bit his lip, shaking his head, "Wrong. Sort of."

"What do you mean, sort of!" Brooke said loudly, an anger stirring inside of her, who was he to keep them from the truth?

He held up his hands, "Calm down and listen. Not all of it was a lie. Laura, mom, did die in a plane crash on her way to an art show in Paris. But Greg, my father…he died years earlier, when I was four, from cancer. Mom was crushed. She was a strong woman, but losing the love of her life practically destroyed her. It took her years to get back on her feet, I can still remember the first time I saw her painting once again after dad's death, I watched her, and her trembling hands as she painted the sunset. You guys know, the one we hang in the living room? She called it New Beginnings, properly titled. After that, she kept painting, more and more than she ever had in her life. She scored with big time art agents, got her paintings sold for thousands of bucks a piece, made a name of herself. She and I travelled everywhere, and that's how she met the father of you two."

"The father of us, who is he then." Brady said, staring at his brother like he had three heads instead of one.

He shook his head, "I can't tell you guys that, he has to claim you."

"…claim us?" Brooke said, cocking an eyebrow, "What, we're meeting this guy in person now? Is he at the camp with other fathers who ditch their children?"

Brendon rubbed his temples, then looked her straight in the eye, "No, you're not meeting him in person anytime soon. Because he's a _god_."

Now it was Brooke's turn to look at him like he had three heads, at this point maybe everything would make a lot more sense, "You're telling me my father is God."

"No, no, I mean a god. Like, the Greek gods? Come on you two, like you guys never feel anything weird. When you get angry, or upset, a tugging feeling in your gut? Haven't either of you wondered what that was?"

"I thought it was gas pains, not batshit crazy magical powers?" Brady said, reaching over and putting the back of his hand on his brothers forehead, "Has the job stress gotten to you?"

Brendon swatted it away, "I'm serious! I-" he was cut off by a deafening roar, somewhere in between a dog's bark and a lion's growl, except much, much louder. The noise made each of them turn paler than they already were, Brady and Brooke both turning to look out the back truck window.

A large figure was behind the truck, far back, but not too far so that Brooke couldn't pick out some of the details if she squinted her eyes. The sight of the figure made her skin crawl, it's dark silhouette the only thing visible. It had a large, large head, and two gigantic arms about the same size and length as his head, wasn't that impossible? She took a breath, holding it as the arms and head suddenly jerked in the direction of the car. Then the three body parts suddenly went to the ground, and for an odd reason they looked like they were…sniffing. Before she could stare any longer, Brooke almost fell face first into the truck window as Brendon started the engine, hitting his foot on the gas pedal so hard the truck immediately went to 100 KM per hour, and kept going up and up.

"What are you doing!" Brady yelled, trying to be heard over the loud noise of the straining, old engine of the Chevy Colorado.

"I knew I should have kept driving! Almost there guys, we're almost there."

"Almost where?" Brooke said, panic rising in her voice. She couldn't take her eyes off of the man, beast, whatever it was that was now following behind them at top speed. She kept trying to figure out what it was. It was running, but not on two legs, on four. No feet, paws. And the arms and heads…looked straight at her, no arms, just heads.

A scream started deep in her throat, but before she let it out Brady clamped a hand over her mouth, "Don't attract more attention to us!"

She pushed his hand away, "Step on it, Brendon!"

As soon as she said that her body was jerked forward, straight into the front seats, Brady catching her small body before she went through the windsheild.

"Hold on tight!" Brendon called out, stepping on the peddle even harder. They were going uphill, more like ploughing uphill, through grass that looked like it would come up to Brooke's nose if she were standing in it. She sat up, pushing herself in between her two brothers and looked back, the monster was still behind him, but it looks as if the grass was keeping him back. The truck gave one more single lurch before the engine cut, Brendon swore and got out of the truck, his siblings following suit. Brendon reached in the back of the truck, grabbing two large backpacks and tossing it to them, then pointed upward to the very top of the hill, "You two see that sign? Get there, as quickly as possible. You'll see a sign that says "Camp Half-Blood", it's where you two belong. Get down to the Big House as soon as possible."

"Where the hell are you going to go?" Brady said, slinging the backpack containing his only belongings inside over his shoulder.

Smirking, Brendon reached into the back of the truck again, this time taking out a long, golden scythe and flipping in the air, "I have hellhound to fight."

Brooke stared at her brother, then at the sword, then at the demon, apparently called a hellhound, charging up at them from the hill before grabbing Brady's sleeve, dragging him up, "Come on!"

"But what about-"

"I said, come on!"

The two climbed the hill, pushing back tall strands of grass, both of them wincing as they heard the clang of metal against body, and a soft whimper that sounded remarkably like a dogs.

Brooke bit her lip. She loved dogs.

"Hurry up!" Brady yelled at her.

The two were almost at the top of the hill, coming close to a huge pine tree standing in the very centre of it, and what looked like a gold sheep hanging from the side.

"We're almost-" and Brooke's voice was cut off as a large figure hit her in the back, knocking her to the ground as an unbearable weight was put on her shoulders. She screamed out, trying as hard as she could to get whatever it was off of her. She heard Brady's voice, panicked, and Brendon's before hearing the sound of a sword slashing through something. Finally, before giving up and letting the wait crush her, it's like everything went quiet in her mind, the only sound running through her head was one of a mans. Deep, rough, but somewhat familiar.

"The paintbrush, BrookLynn." It took her a second to register before the idea clicked, as she strained her small arm down into her jeans pocket, pulling out the silver paint brush she had received earlier. For the first time, she noticed a small button on the very end of the brush. Bringing up her thumb, she pressed down on it, the paintbrush grew longer, bristles breaking apart as a pointy, silver edge immersed from it. Finally, Brooke was holding a long, silver sword, the handle engraved with all of the Greek markings the paintbrush had held. Without thinking, she stabbed the sword upward with all of the strength she could muster, and heard the loudest screech of something not human, not animal, like nothing from this world. The weight and pressure flew off of her back, and she gasped for air, barely getting a breath in before Brady pulled her up into his arms, running back up towards top of the hill. She noticed his cheeks had two slits down them, blood trailing down his face. She grasped onto the hilt of her sword, the feeling of it resting in her hands felt so natural compared to everything else going on.

Brendon caught up with them, his shirt sliced open and what looked like blood stains all over himself, then finally the three of them reached the top of the hill. They past the pine tree, Brendon grabbing Brady's wrist and turning, looking back at the three-headed hellhound that was currently charging at them, then they all watched as a dragon about the size of their truck uncoiled itself from around the pine tree, breathing a huge inferno of fire straight at the hound before it turned into dust, flowing away in the wind.

The last thing Brooke remembered before blacking out was the smell of freshly grown strawberries.


End file.
